With the advent of modular electrical devices such as printed circuit boards and printed circuit board connectors as well as other connectors, it is expected that there will be a substantial number of matings and dematings of the components making up the devices. As these devices may have a substantial number of electrical contacts, it is imperative that care be taken to avoid damaging any of them as this could cause an electrical malfunction of the system. Thus, if an electrical contact were bent, alignment with its respective socket would not be possible due to the rigidity of presently used contacts. It would, therefore, be desirable to have a flexible electrical contact that could compensate for the misalignment of the electrical contacts.
Too, one or both ends of the electrical contact may be soldered in place. Stress on the soldered joint may arise during movement of the contact as a result of, for example, mating forces. It would thus be desirable to have a flexible electrical contact that would serve to reduce the stress on the soldered joint.
Many of these modular electrical devices find use on military aircraft. It would, therefore, be further desirable to have an electrical contact that is rugged and reliable.
Various devices, connectors and electrical contacts have been proposed which provide electrical contacts having flexibility. Among these are Kinkaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,191, DeVuyst et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,163, Hammell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,273, Pittman U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,381 and Coller et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,000. All of these disclose electrical contacts having a reduced cross-sectional thickness which provides a certain amount of lateral flexibility. However, due to the fact that the reduced cross-section is square or rectangular, lateral flexibility will only be increased in certain lateral directions. There will be no increase in axial flexibility.
Tamburro U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,321 discloses a contact having an intermediate compliant section.
Hayden U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,944 discloses a tubular sleeve having a corrugated section which acts as a bellows. The tubular sleeve is used in a heat exchanger. The reference discloses that such a sleeve has axial flexibility. Hayden is but an example of uses to which a corrugated section or bellows may be put to use. A common use for a bellows is on a straw which allows a section of the straw to bend without crimping the straw.
Notwithstanding the plethora of remedies available, no one has yet proposed the solution to end the problems of the prior art.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to have an electrical devices with electrical contacts that are flexible.
It is another object of the invention to have an electrical connector with electrical contacts that are laterally and longitudinally flexible.
It is a further object of the invention to have an electrical connector with electrical contacts that are rugged and reliable.
It is yet another object of the invention to have a method to make the electrical contacts that is simple and inexpensive.
These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent after reference to the following description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.